The consciousness of the falsity of present pleasures, and the ignorance of the vanity of absent pleasures, cause inconstancy. The greater intellect one has, the more originality one finds in men. Ordinary persons find no difference between men. The knowledge of God is very far from the love of Him. The knowledge of God without that of man's misery causes pride. The knowledge of man's misery without that of God causes despair. The knowledge of Jesus Christ constitutes the middle course, because in Him we find both God and our misery. The last function of reason is to recognize that there are an infinity of things which surpass it. The last thing one discovers in composing a work is what to put first. The origins of disputes between philosophers is, that one class of them have undertaken to raise man by displaying his greatness, and the other to debase him by showing his miseries. The present is never our goal: the past and present are our means: the future alone is our goal. Thus, we never live but we hope to live; and always hoping to be happy, it is inevitable that we will never be so. The sensibility of man to trifles, and his insensibility to great things, indicates a strange inversion. The vanity of the sciences. Physical science will not console me for the ignorance of morality in the time of affliction. But the science of ethics will always console me for the ignorance of the physical sciences. | 
